Head-on fight forcustomers.

Byline: Alan Plews

Helping small firms go digital

A TEES VALLEY design and marketing firm has launched a digital media division aimed at championing small business.

Calm Digital has been launched to compete head-on with regional and multi-national agencies for a larger slice of the branded marketing and digital design and development markets in the UK and abroad.

The new company is part of Middlesbrough-based Calm Asylum - and bosses say it will compete on price and also provide service level guarantees.

Mark Easby, director of Calm Digital, said the approach is a response to market conditions and will challenge the "traditional" pricing practices within the digital media industry as well as the practice of making digital development a cost premium carried by the client.

He said: "We've looked at what deters small to medium-size enterprises and other traditionally slow adaptors of technology from investing in digital media.

"We found that the key issue was the lack of guarantees from service providers set against high costs of buying bespoke or off-the-shelf content management systems and/or customer relationship management solutions.

"At the same time, the high street is suffering its biggest drop in sales year-on-year and shows no sign of changing.

"So companies are understandably concerned about remaining competitive and making informed decisions on how to move forward in the digital marketplace," he added.

"In response, we've developed solutions and a pricing model specifically to overcome these problems - which include specific service guarantees and digital functionality offered at no extra cost to the client."